Seven Steps
by Tako Phin
Summary: to L&#% as told by Platinum Pair. Written for 2882 Pair Week 2016
**This story is posted for this challenge:**

 **tenipurishippingweeks. tumblr**

 **2882 Pair Week Day 1-7 prompt: See the numbers at the beginning of each part**

 **PS: ANY OF YOU READING THIS AND IS CAPABLE OF WRITING SHOULD JOIN IN TOO. REVIVE THIS FANDOM YO!**

* * *

1\. **Illusion**

"Oi. Bunta~"

After being in the same tennis club for one year Marui had learnt to recognize the voice, and especially the tone used. He immediately froze in his tracks. If Niou Masaharu wanted to brag to him, he would get it, and that would mean that Niou would prevent Marui from leaving at all costs. Last time Marui tried to slip away he was welcomed with a rain of paint balls from seemingly out of nowhere.

The silver haired man popped out behind the redhead like he usually did. Placing a hand over Marui's shoulder, his other hand was flamboyantly waving a piece of photo. Marui glanced at the attention-seeking item. This time it reflected two people sitting across a table, slurping from a glass of strawberry juice placed in the middle of the table using straws. Both the silver haired man and the purple haired man in the picture were smiling.

If Marui had scrutinized the photo closer, he would have seen a faint vertical line right in the middle.

"Really now? Sharing juice together?" Marui scoffed.

Niou leaned his head beside Marui's. He flicked his eyes towards the red head and grinned. "You jelly?"

Marui rolled his eyes. "Of you and Yagyuu? Maybe if you guys go to candy land next."

It was supposed to be a joke, but Niou seemed to take it as a challenge. "Sure, puri~"

Niou retracted his hand and released Marui from his embrace. Marui turned to face him, one eyebrow raised. "Do you guys really go out every Sunday ? We have training from 7 to 3. You may be absent every week but I clearly see Yagyuu around with my own two eyes."

"Photos don't lie~" Niou stuck his tongue out.

Marui could not refute Niou's reply. Neither did he think it was true. "You guys've been to…let's see, climbing mountains, diving, and even disneyland. If it's a night date then I can somewhat understand. But all the photos you've shown me are taken somewhere in noon!"

"That's because I was not there." Another voice answered before Niou could. Marui turned his head to find Yagyuu. Niou began whistling innocently, his hands crossed behind his head.

"I shall repeat myself. I was never there in any of those…dates." Yagyuu snatched the photo from Niou's hand. Niou did not even try to fight back. Yagyuu scanned over the photo.

"And if you see here, it's clearly edited." Yagyuu pointed at the faint line in the middle of the photo.

Marui gaped, his mouth wide open. All this time Niou bragged to him…all lies?!

Niou was less disturbed than Marui about the revelation despite being the culprit. He clasped both hand before him and gave a pouty expression. "I would not have done it if Yagyuu-senpai is not too shy to go out with me…"

"I thought you would stop spreading the rumor after we become sophomores. Apparently not." Yagyuu said calmly, ignoring Niou's pleading expression and ripped the photo to pieces.

Niou's expression swiftly changed to a cheeky one. "I got copies of them." He informed Yagyuu.

"Do whatever you want with it. We're tennis partner, not life partner." Yagyuu said conclusively before he left with the shreds of the photos. He was too gentlemanly to litter in the school ground.

Niou stuck his tongue out at him. Then he turned towards Marui and gave a victorious grin. "I never say we're _life partners._ "

Marui was too shocked from the events unfolding before him. "Wait wait! So is that Yagyuu, or that's the same illusion you use in your photos?"

"Puri~" Was Niou's response to the poor befuddled guy.

* * *

2\. **Wig**

"Do I have to put this on? Yagyuu…Oi Yagyuu! Stop ignoring me!" Niou complained. He was standing before a mirror, adjusting his wig for the nth time and glaring at the man sitting on his bed.

Niou did not stop with the edited photos even after Yagyuu's confrontation, so Yagyuu finally gave up and took him out on a Sunday afternoon.

With strings attached.

Yagyuu had invited Niou to his house. Then he had dragged the silver haired man in as soon as he opened the door…and forced him to wear one of his father's wig. A black colored, obviously artificial hair that looked like a bowl.

"I am not risking my reputation by being seen in public with a delinquent." Yagyuu explained coldly.

"Are you just calling a student of Rikkaidai, the most prestigious school in Japan, a delinquent?" Niou turned and crossed his arms, the odd looking wig making it looked like Niou was wearing a helmet instead.

"Rikkaidai is the most prestigious in _tennis_." Yagyuu corrected. "What else am I supposed to make out of a student who not only grows his hair but also bleaches it?"

"This is natural." Niou pointed to the silver hair below the black abomination he was wearing. "And in case you can't see it, your hair is purple."

Yagyuu did not respond, forcing the petty argument to an end. Niou refused to back down.

Niou walked towards Yagyuu. "You know, if you want to go on a date with someone else, you can just tell me." He said seductively, accentuating his walk by swaying his hips. He stopped right before the purple haired man, one finger pointed at his chest. "Just tell me who it is, and I'll be the person."

Niou pulled his finger back before Yagyuu could slap it away. "You're so uptight." Niou pouted. "If I got it right from the wig, the person you want to go to a date with is…Sanada."

Behind Yagyuu's tinted glasses, his eyes were glaring at Niou who had assumed the impersonation of their vice-captain. What he had not expected was the flurry of movement coming from his left side. Thankfully Yagyuu's reflex was fast enough to catch Niou's slap midway.

"Why are you slapping me?" Yagyuu asked at the incredulous gesture.

"You have behaved insolently, bringing me here and forcing me to wear that horrendous hair piece." Niou answered as Sanada, his voice low and rough. He could tell that Yagyuu was slightly perturbed by the situation, probably because the unexpected violence. The real Sanada had no need to exert his power on Yagyuu before. The first always hurt.

Niou reverted back to himself. "Niou." He pointed to himself, pulling the bowl-like wig off his head. "Sanada." He placed the black bowl back on his head. Then he took the wig off.

"So, which do you prefer?" He asked, giving Yagyuu the most convincing puppy eyes he could muster. It would have worked on any other scenario, except now.

To Niou's surprise, Yagyuu silently stood up from the bed and walked towards the wardrobe. He pulled out another wig, this time it was blonde and it was clearly for female with its long strands of hair.

"I prefer you in this."

Whether the wig was Yagyuu's or it was bought specially for this occasion, Niou was impressed. This gentleman knew how to play his game. Niou gave a smirk.

"Make me."

* * *

3\. **Glasses**

 _I sincerely apologize for the events that had unfolded on our last outing. To make it up, I invite you to a make-up date this Sunday, same time as last week._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Yagyuu Hiroshi_

Niou raised an eyebrow at the letter he found on his desk. He read the content and laughed hysterically, earning the stares of his classmates, not like he ever cared. His partner was so hilarious, and the serious tone of the message amplified that to max.

Niou had ended up wearing the blonde week on their last outing, for fun. He also decided to compliment the wig with appropriate make-up and get-up, which comprised of very fitting black tank top and extremely short skirt (courtesy of his older sister), for fun. Oh and not forgetting the black heels too. Niou knew his outfit was asking for trouble even if they were only going to a cafe.

It indeed did. Several guys came to flirt with Niou when Yagyuu was not around. But the worst was when they refused to back down and threatened to harass Niou right there and then. It was 1 vs 5, and Niou knew that they would not have enough time to do their deeds before Yagyuu returned with their orders.

So Niou pretended to put a fight and as expected, one of them lost patience and tackled Niou to the ground. The suggestive pose they were in spoke volumes of the supposed trouble Niou was in. And Yagyuu, as the hero, would come in to save Niou-

Or so he thought. The purple haired guy never ceased to surprise him. Yagyuu returned with a cup in each hand, face expressionless behind the tinted glasses, and said flatly, "I am his boyfriend."

What happened next was a flurry of movement. Some of the guys who did not catch the subject in Yagyuu's words took it as a challenge and lunged at him. The guy on top of Niou was more intelligent, but before he could warn his crew Niou dealt a critical attack on him. Long story short Yagyuu fought against three guys and broke his glasses in the process, all because of Niou.

And now Yagyuu was apologizing for it.

Niou could not stop laughing. Apparently Niou was the blonde damsel in the gentleman's eyes. Quite an improvement, Niou had to say.

xoxo

Niou stood before Yagyuu's house, dressed in the same get up as last time except for the wig. It was blonde, but shorter than the one Yagyuu had. A glasses-less Yagyuu opened the door, and in a blink of an eye yanked him inside again.

"What now?" Niou asked.

Yagyuu did not respond. He took Niou to his room. The proceedings were so similar to last week that Niou was starting to believe he had a deja vu.

Niou waited as Yagyuu rummaged through his wardrobe. Was he that picky with the wig? Niou's thought stopped short as he saw Yagyuu walking back, a nicely folded pair of white shirt and jeans in hand.

"Change into this." Yagyuu instructed, shoving the clothes at Niou.

So apparently Yagyuu was traumatized by the incident. How sweet. Niou would make sure to milk this opportunity dry. "But I thought you say you don't want to be seen with a delinquent?" Niou asked with his innocent face plastered on.

"I did." Yagyuu answered. "However, having a delinquent pay for my glasses would be more reasonable than my 'girlfriend'."

Niou's eyes widened for a fraction of seconds before he bursted into laughter. Of all the reasons Niou had thought of in his head, Yagyuu just had to take the most ridiculous one. With such a humorless tone too. He could not stand it. He really could not stand it. He _really_ could not stand it.

The smile was replaced by a stern frown in a flash. "You know what, here." Niou took his wallet out and pulled out some cash. He placed the cash on top of the clothes and slammed them onto the bed. "Since that's all you need, I'm leaving."

Niou did not. He stood there, staring at Yagyuu who had put on his glasses he had kept on him (similar to the last one he had broken) and _grinned_. "So you can play others for fool, but not vice versa?" Yagyuu retorted, pushing the bridge of his glasses up.

"I _don't_." Niou crossed his arms, dropping his blonde persona in a beat. "I outwit them. You don't. All the things that you do fall within my calculation. I just don't like them."

If Yagyuu was taken aback by the statement, it was nicely hidden behind his tinted lens. Niou went on. "We're the same. We're both tricksters, only you have a facade you're trying so hard to maintain. As long as you hide behind that tinted lens of yours, you'll never be my match. What a letdown. I'm leaving."

Yagyuu did not do anything to stop the silver haired man. He stood there, unmoving. After a moment, he took off his glasses from the bridge and tossed it towards where the clothes and the case were.

If Niou really wanted him to even the game, then game on.

* * *

4\. **Mischief Managed**

It was the weirdest day Niou had ever gone through.

For one, he was locked inside his own house. No one but him was left inside. The door apparently had been jammed from the outside. So Niou had to jump out from the window- only to find that someone had placed excessive oil on the hinges that he slammed the window panel off its axis. Niou hurriedly pasted his bedsheets to cover up the hole.

Then Niou discovered that the prankster had gone as far as to unscrew his door knob and tampered with it such that the lock was permanent. Quite an advanced trick, Niou was impressed. Did his younger brother finally pick up his skills?

Unlikely though, for the trick did not stop there. Said prankster also had some mad hacking skills for he received a message from the school claiming that there was a train disruption earlier in the morning and that school would start on the second period instead.

Since Niou did not bother to try to go for the morning practice that day (Sanada would surely have him run laps for being tardy), Niou reached school one hour and a half later. And by then Rikkaidai was in chaos.

Niou was not exaggerating. He was not the only student to have received the message on the late reporting time, thus a large number of students arrived as late as he was. Though Niou arrived the latest since he had that trouble exiting his house. Only Niou was greeted by a teacher, who immediately dragged him to the meeting in the teacher's room.

"We have students claiming that a silver haired man have sneaked into the computer room at 7am in the morning. The tennis club captain claim to not have seen you during morning practice. You are the last student to arrive to the school. Could you explain yourself?" The teacher asked.

The situation was so bizarre. Primarily because Niou would _normally_ be the perpetrator, not an alleged one. What was Niou supposed to say, he was locked in of his own house?

So Niou did what he usually do. He dashed out of the room at a lightning speed before the teacher could even say his name. He ran towards class 2-A, the data master Yanagi Renji's class. He ignored the teacher that was telling him to not obstruct the lesson and the students who gave him curious glances. He walked towards the brunette. "You can give me laps or ask Sanada to slap me or whatever later. I need you now."

Thankfully Yanagi agreed. And thankfully the data master was on his side for he suggested the best hiding spot possible- the girls toilet. As expected from the most practical man in the team.

"What do you need me for?" Yanagi asked, completely unperturbed by his surroundings.

"Give me an exact recount of today's morning practice." Niou said hurriedly.

Yanagi did, down to the exact minutes and second. Of everyone, Yagyuu had behaved most peculiarly. He arrived on time as usual. Then he had gotten himself in a squabble with Kirihara for supposed 'misbehavior' and ran 15 laps for it. Yanagi claimed that Yagyuu was running at an unusually slower pace which gave him plenty of time unsupervised.

"I should also add that Yagyuu is a member of the student council. We members of the student council do not have direct access to the school mail, but we can ask for authorization." Yanagi added. The sentence did it. Yagyuu was definitely the culprit.

"And if my conjecture is correct, he would be-"

"Playing tricks during afternoon practice. Yep I got that Master." Niou patted Yanagi's shoulder. "Now I need a favor."

Yanagi was such a no-nonsense person that he was perfect for this job. Niou asked Yanagi to approach Yagyuu in the same manner as Niou did, of course with more manners. Yanagi had Yagyuu excused for 'student council business'.

From then on it was Niou's job.

Niou waited in the council room. Half an hour was more than enough time to get all his traps set. Now he was standing right across the door, playing absentmindedly with a piece of string. _It's time_ Niou grinned when he saw someone pushed the ajar door open. Let's start simple, Niou told Yagyuu silently. A bucket filled with leftover sweet drinks balanced on top of the ajar door was knocked down. Yagyuu had trained reflexes due to tennis and he managed to avoid the onslaught in time, the contents of the bucket splashed on the ground.

As soon as Yagyuu side stepped, his foot put pressure on a lever disguised as floor tiles that launched a waste bin filled with tennis balls across him. Yagyuu caught sight of a silver haired man grinning, but he was too focused on the onslaught of the balls to deal with it. Yagyuu even managed to hit most of the balls as if he was playing tennis- as Niou had anticipated.

Trick #3, on top of the randomly arranged tables were firmly attached DIY projectiles made of pen and rubber band with an arrow each. The rubber band was pulled taut, the only thing preventing its release was a piece of file filled to the brim with papers standing vertically.

There were 20 of them in the room. Yagyuu managed to accidentally hit 8 of them. Yagyuu could see that the arrows were not accurately aimed at him and so he did not move, letting the arrows jammed to his sides. He did not see the strings attached to the arrows and he found himself trapped with his back against the wall with strings criss-crossing over his body and even his legs. He could not move. The strings were sharp enough to cause lacerations.

"I have prepared trick #4 and trick #5 for you. I guess those aren't necessary, piyo~" Niou finally spoke up. Yagyuu glared from behind his tinted glasses. Maybe. Niou could not see it, but he could feel it.

Niou walked towards the captive man with a duffel bag. "How was playing trickster? Fun?" He began. Then he opened his bag and pulled out a wig that was an exact copy of his own hairstyle. "Now I need you to face the music."

Yanagi left the two people alone. Honestly, he was impressed at what Niou could pull at such short time. If he had not been careful he could have triggered trick no #4.5, which was especially made for him, Yanagi was certain of that.

As long as Niou kept to his words to 'clean up the mess', he was more than willing to turn a blind eye. By the afternoon, there was news about a silver haired man cleaning toilets. Said silver haired man did not come to practice too. However, his purple haired friend, the one that had caught the culprit and handed him over to the teacher, did.

"Piyo~" The purple haired man stuck his tongue out as he adjusted Yagyuu's glasses by pushing the bridge up his nose. Next time they met, Niou would make sure to compliment him, the trickster style.

* * *

5\. **What if**

It could have been so simple.

Both Niou and Yagyuu entered Rikkaidai. Both of them entered the tennis club. Niou was a trickster, Yagyuu was a gentleman. One day, Niou had set tricks for the three freshman demons in the club and had accidentally caught Yagyuu in it instead.

"Whoops. Sorry. You ok?" Niou asked, extending a hand to the fallen boy.

"I'm alright. Thank you for your concern." Yagyuu replied politely, accepting the help.

They never really talk to each other after that. Their personalities were incompatible, after all. But fate wanted them to be together. The top freshman player and captain wannabe, Yukimura, recognized the potential in the two, and paired them together for doubles.

It did not work well at first. Niou's play style was based on impersonation. Yagyuu's style was more technical. Niou would be busy impersonating their opponents while Yagyuu served as a backup. It was good, but not of national caliber. They were made sure to be made aware of that by the captain wannabe Yukimura. Thus they were now sitting next to each other on the rooftop.

"You guys need to come up with a better play style if you want to make it to the nationals this year." Niou mimicked Yukimura's words perfectly, down to his feminine yet stern tone.

"And whatever you're doing now is atrocious. Keep doing that, and you won't make regulars." Yagyuu attempted. His was a very exaggerated version.

Niou bursted into laughter. "That's pretty spot on!"

"We still need to figure something out though." Yagyuu contemplated.

Suddenly Niou received an Eureka moment. "Try it."

"Try what?"

"Mimic Yukimura again. This time, tone down on the exaggeration."

Yagyuu did his second try.

"Yep. Amateur-ish, but we can work on that." Niou concluded with a confident grin.

"What are you suggesting?" Yagyuu turned towards him.

"Instead of me copying the opponents, I'll copy you. And vice versa!" Niou exclaimed as if it was the most shocking breakthrough ever.

Yagyuu mulled the option over. Then he frowned. "You know you're left handed right? And I'm right handed. That would mean-"

"Playing with our non dominant hand." Niou continued. "You play golf. I'm somewhat ambidextrous. We can make it happen."

They did not make in time for the nationals. But they spent every week practicing their moves together. At first they just met for tennis practice only. Then it slowly branched to lunch. During school holidays they would meet everyday from morning until night. They would take turns to walk each other back home. Yagyuu because it was the 'gentlemanly thing to do' and Niou because he said so.

One night…

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Yagyuu waved and was about to walk into his house when Niou grabbed his arm.

"I…uh…" Niou was at loss of words.

"Anything else you need of me?" Yagyuu asked, his eyes concerned.

"I…"

"I lrobvdet you."

Wait what? Repeat that again.

"I LGOHVYED YOU."

"I LUURBVED YOU"

"I L&#% YOU"

The word would not come out no matter what. Not even in his scenario.

Niou knew what went wrong. It was not the correct term to be used. It was something else, what truly transpired between Yagyuu and him.

* * *

6\. **Regret**

It could have been so simple.

When Yagyuu first met Niou, he thought Niou was a quirky guy, but paid not much attention to him. It turned out that was a difficult thing to do, for he quickly made a name for himself through his pranks. On top of that, Yagyuu and Niou were amongst the promising freshmen in that batch. The top three were unshakable as top three singles, Marui Bunta had chosen Jackal Kuwahara as his partner, and Yagyuu was stuck with the remaining person left.

Yagyuu had been unwilling to be paired with such a jokester. He heard that the third of the three demons, Yanagi Renji, was actually a doubles player and he spent his first year polishing his skill so that he could ask him next year. He heard rumors about him and Niou going out, but he pushed them aside as a childish indulgence. Without any response from him, the rumor should die by their second year.

To his annoyance, it did not. By then Yagyuu felt the need to intervene before his reputation became any worse.

The seven promising freshmen made up the regular line up. Yagyuu was admittedly weak as a single player, and he was forced to pair up with the silver haired man for doubles.

Their play was horrendous at first. Niou would constantly switch his impersonation between his two opponents. Yagyuu was pretty much reduced to back up, making up for shots that Niou had missed. It was a decent doubles for most opponents, but against national-calibre players who could see through their rift, they were done.

It was not until their confrontation that they began developing their switch style. It was a good thing, for that brought them to the national-calibre level they needed to be at.

Yagyuu refused to lose to Niou. Niou was willing to do everything to reveal the ugliness that Yagyuu strived to hide all his life. That confrontation reflected their relationship and this destructive tango they were dancing to perfectly. Yagyuu still had a scar on the side of his neck from the string that day.

Should he have let Niou continue with his childish indulgence? Should he have replied to Niou's provocation as gentlemanly as possible? Had he done that, they would not be in this situation. Niou would not have to pick every single tennis ball scattered around school (a total of 1459 according to Yanagi) and Yagyuu would not be playing dodgeball with devil-mode Kirihara as punishment.

Perhaps they would be doing it together instead. Yagyuu would offer to help Niou to search for the balls, and they would practice their doubles against their enraged junior. Then they would eat dinner together, going over the events that had happened that day, and walked each other back home before they bid each other farewell and-

It was not meant to happen. They could not be like Yukimura and Sanada, who would meet just the two of them to go over things, who could trust each other without saying a word, who could die for each other. They could not be like Marui and Jackal, who went out for date every day after school at the arcade, who went out to eat together and play tennis just for fun.

* * *

7\. **Make up**

As a couple they did not go for dates. They did not hold hands and walked into the sunset. They would find each other and impersonate each other and get each other into as much trouble as possible without causing them to be expelled from school.

Instead, they had their own unique ways.

Starting third year, Niou would find breakfast on his desk, and they would all contain either cheese, egg yolk, fish or mushroom. ' _Throw them away and I will force them down your throat'_ The same note would be attached on top of the wrapped food. Being Niou, he tried to ignore the food once, and next he found out that you could transfer food by force from one mouth to another. Sometimes Niou deliberately left the food untouched for that, though he would prefer to do it without the food.

On the other hand, Yagyuu would find weird stuff on his desk. A bag of gold fish, a tape, a lipstick- the object never made sense. Yagyuu was forced to find use of the items given, such as the goldfish as the class pet, the tape to paste his notes, and the lipstick for…emphasis. To mark something that belonged to him.

"A blonde wig eh?" Yagyuu confronted.

"Feeling nostalgic yet?" Niou grinned.

"I know how to use this." Yagyuu approached Niou.

"You better do. I've given you the tank top and the skirt yesterday and the day before." Niou stuck his tongue out.

"I prefer you in this." The line was nostalgic. There were never any intention hidden behind the line.

"Pupinna~" This time, Niou knew it. It didn't make him want Yagyuu in the get up any less.

It was easy to say the word _love_ , but it had no meaning for the two of them. They were not lovers. Neither were they friends, such word was too light to describe the intensity between them.

They were a pair.

* * *

 **About the pair: They're an interesting bunch. Everyone from Rikkaidai is an interesting bunch (exceptjackalwhoopssorry). Anyway I tried to make their relationship as screwed up as themselves XD  
I can't write romance. I think it shows here. I hope you can find at least one part of this enjoyable?**


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